


i swear that i'll be around for you

by lyfthemuffinmoth



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Martin's Mother's A+ Parenting, Teen parent, Trans Martin Blackwood, Trans Pregnancy, all the scenes in one chapter, but i lost patience so now it'll be snippets, but they'll be refrenced so fair warning, ehmm what else, i dont plan to include any of the actual transphobic scenes, i was going to make this a one shot with like, i will not be describing him being pregnant with physical descriptors but like, im not sure how long this will be so i guess we'll see, implied/refrenced transphobia, it happened, martin has a shitty ex basically, martin's mother is a bad person :))), one bit per chapter, past dubcon?, sydnee blackwood deserves the world, the single parent au nobody asked for but you get it anyways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyfthemuffinmoth/pseuds/lyfthemuffinmoth
Summary: Martin had thought about it for a long time and he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t give her up. He was her father and he couldn’t just abandon her like that. He couldn’t. He couldn’t be like his dad. So he wouldn’t. He simply refused.So he put up with his mother and moved on. Got ready for a kid. It was the least he could do.-TMA except Martin has an eleven year old daughter at the start of season one
Relationships: (past), Martin Blackwood & Original Child Character(s), Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 66





	1. just breathe

**Author's Note:**

> hello my dude!! thank you very much for joining me on this adventure. i started writing this about a month ago and i had planned to put it all in one chapter and make it a decently long one-shot, but i came to the realisation that i just,,, couldn't wait anymore to post it, so now you get small snippets of the story! the word count is fairly low for each chapter, at least for my standards, so i'll try to update fairly frequently.
> 
> cws for this chapter are in the end notes!!

**April 2017**

  


Martin was  _ exhausted _ . He was working three jobs and on top of that he was taking care of a twelve year old girl. And that wasn’t even mentioning the paranormal bullshit that had been going on at the Institute.

  


“Yeah. Yeah I know, Syd.” he spoke into his phone. “I’m sorry, but I have a lot of work to do.”

  


“Yes, I promise. When I get home, I’ll help you out. I promise.”

  


He took a deep breath.

  


“I love you too. Bye, Syd.” 

  


He hung up and sighed to himself. He felt like an awful parent sometimes, but he had to work to support himself, his mother and his daughter. He did so with the most love, but it left him living off caffeine and microwave meals.

  


He wasn’t even sure when the last time he’d slept was.

  


All this was going through his head as he moved to the breakroom to get himself another cup of coffee.

  


After it was done, he took a sip and sighed. He put the mug back down and rubbed his temples. He had a late shift at the bar he worked at, considering it was Friday and therefore a lot of people wanted to celebrate their weekend.

  


“Are you alright?”

  


Martin startled and knocked the mug off the kitchen counter by accident. 

  


“Jesus Christ, Jon, warn me next time-” he sighed, turning to the person in question.

  


“Sorry, sorry, I just- Well, no offense, Martin, but you look like hell. You’re pale, you’ve got massive bags under your eyes and you’re drinking  _ coffee _ instead of tea.”

  


“Just- Just, leave it alone, Jon, it’s been a long week.”

  


“I- We still have that cot in storage. You need some sleep.”

  


“Jon, I’m fine. Let me just clean up this mess and then I’ll get back to w-”

  


Martin staggered and gripped the edge of the counter. Jon’s eyes widened and he swiftly caught him, resting his hands on Martin’s shoulder. 

  


“Martin. Please. Eat something and then get some rest.”

  


Martin sighed, trying very hard to blink his eyes open. 

  


“Fine.” he sighed, giving in. “But just for a little. I have to work late tonight, so I can’t waste too much time-”

  


Jon gently moved him to sit on the break room couch. 

  


“I’ll wake you up in time, Martin.” Jon said. He moved into the kitchen and got Martin a glass of water. He then joined him back on the couch and handed him the glass. “There you go.”

  


Martin smiled at him and took a sip of the water. He then cursed under his breath. 

  


“I promised Syd I’d be home tonight for more than just dinner.” he sighed. “I can’t go back on that.”

  


“I- I’m sure she’s got stuff to do for herself.”

  


“You don’t get it, Jon, Syd’s been alone almost all day, I need to be there for h-”

  


“I think your wife will understand if you take care o-”

  


Martin choked on his water and carefully put the glass down.    
  
“Sorry sorry sorry-” he said, finishing his coughing fit. “ _ Wife _ ?”

  


“...Yes? That is who we were talking about, right? Your wife Sydnee?”

  


And then Martin started laughing. Actual full on laughing.

  


“What?” Jon protested, not liking the idea of being laughed at.

  


“Jon- Jon, did you actually think Syd was my wife?” 

  


“...Yeah? Is she not?”

  


Martin slowly caught his breath. “Jon-” he said with a soft smile. “Jon, Syd’s my kid.”

  


Jon made a surprised noise, his eyes widening. “A- A- You have a kid?” he asked softly.

  


Martin chuckled. “Yup. Single parent life isn’t easy, but Syd makes it worth it. God, that sounds cliché, doesn’t it?”

  


Jon smiled. “Maybe a little.”

  


“I just- well, it’s been just me for a long time and it’s a  _ lot _ of work.” Martin sighed.

  


Jon blinked in realisation. “You must’ve lost her mother, I’m so sorry-”

  


Martin smiled. “No no no, I didn’t. Don’t worry, you’re good. It’s always been me and Syd from the start.”

  


“So you adopted?”

  


Martin sighed, leaning a little against Jon. “If only…” he said, sounding almost bitter.

  


“When I was younger, I- Well you know I had to drop out of school to support my family. I had this boyfriend at the time. He really was bad news and I know that now, but unfortunately, it took me getting pregnant to realise that. My mom wouldn’t let me get an abortion and I didn’t want to just give her up so just… I kept her with me. Raised her all by myself.”

  


Jon was silent for a second. He’d known that Martin was a little stronger than he showed at first glance, but he hadn’t expected this. Raising a kid all on his own? No wonder Martin had such thick skin.

  


Jon took a deep breath. 

  


“...How old-”

  


“Eighteen. When she was born.”

  


“Jesus Christ, Martin, how did you even-”

  


Martin leaned his head on Jon’s shoulder. “I work three jobs, Jon, I’m not living that great of a life.” he muttered, his eyes falling shut.   
  
“Right, right. I’m sorry.” 

  


“‘s fine.”

  


“Yeah?”

  


“Yeah.”

  


Jon took a breath. 

  


“You know. I could watch Syd for you sometime. If you need a day off or just a general break. I can handle kids better than you’d think.”

  


No response.

  


“Martin?”

  


Jon glanced at his shoulder to see no one other than Martin Blackwood sound asleep against his shoulder.

  


Jon blushed. He took a deep breath and moved to link his fingers with Martin’s. He gently ran his thumb over the back of Martin’s hand. He didn’t want to move, because he didn’t want to wake Martin. It definitely wasn’t because he enjoyed having Martin asleep against him as well. Of course not.

  


Martin let out a content little sigh and Jon chuckled.

  


“Sweet dreams, Martin.” he mused as he smiled at the other.


	2. if i was sorry for my actions would i ever stoop so low

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! im sorry this took so long ive been kinda busy with school work and stuff. to avoid any future confusion, these snippets arent in chronological order
> 
> cws are in the end notes!!
> 
> chapter title from this is love by air traffic controller

Martin smiled against Jon’s hair as he leaned against his husband on the small park bench.

“Dad!” Sydnee called from the other side of the park. “Watch!”

She grinned and tossed her soccer ball into the air. She then made a small jump into the air and moved to kick it with her foot, the ball hitting a nearby tree. She then stumbled and fell back, her foot slipping on the wet grass. 

Martin startled and quickly got to his feet, moving over to her with Jon following. “Shit- Honey, are you okay?” he said. When they’d reached her, there was already someone sitting with Syd, helping her up.

Syd bit her lip and rubbed the back of her head. “I’m fine, dad.” she sighed. She looked around. “Where’d my ball go?” she muttered under her breath.

Meanwhile, Jon had turned his attention to the stranger, thanking him for the help. Martin moved to do the same when he recognized his face.

Striking green eyes, a sharp jawline and colourful strawberry blonde curls.

“Mark?”

The stranger furrowed his brow and looked Martin over before he paused in recognition. 

“Holy shit, Martin-”

Jon looked fairly confused. Martin didn’t like to talk about Sydnee’s other birth father, and he’d never even mentioned Mark’s name to his fiance before.

“You two know each other?”

Martin moved to lace his fingers with Jon’s. “Yeah.” was all he said.

Mark turned to give Jon one of his charismatic smiles. “We used to date back in highschool.”

That’s when it clicked with Jon.

“Oh- _Oh._ You’re-”

“Yeah-” Martin interrupted. He took a breath and turned to his daughter. “Hey, Syd, why don’t you go find your ball? We’ll be right with you.”

She nodded, taking the hint. “Alright. Bye, dad!” she mused.

Mark paused. “Wait wait wait, hold on.”

He looked at Syd as she walked away and his eyes lingered on her hair.

“That’s-”

“Sure is.” 

“You kept the kid?”

“I thought that was evident, yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I’m sure she would’ve liked to meet her dad.”

“Because her ‘dad’ wasn’t around to pay bills, raise her and care for her.” Martin said, his grip on Jon’s hand tightening. “I worked my ass off to give Syd a good life and frankly I wasn’t about to let you back into it because you abandoned me _and_ her.”

“Oh come on, Martin, where’s all this coming from?”

“You know damn well where it’s coming from, Mark.”

“Just because I couldn’t handle being a parent when I was eighteen, doesn’t mean shouldn’t be able to go see her now, right?”

“Guess what? I wasn’t ready either. But I didn’t give up. I was there when she said her first words, I was there on her first day of school, I was there at her highschool graduation. Where were you? Huh? You don’t get to be her father. You missed that opportunity.”

Mark’s gaze shifted from Martin to Jon to the engagement ring on Martin’s finger. 

“Oh. I see. She’s already got another dad, doesn’t she?”

“Mark, don’t you d-”

“No no no, I get it. Of course you didn’t do all that work on your own. You were always a pushover, weren’t you? You need a man in your life to do all your work for you. And then when you can’t make them happy anymore, they run away from you. Hell, even your own father did when you were just a kid. You think you’re so god damn smart, but you can’t even get a single person to stay with you. I bet that mother of yours ran too. Ran away from her said little daug-”

He was cut off by Jon hitting him square in the face. Martin gasped and then tried very hard to suppress a grin, failing to do so.

“Are you alright, dear?” Jon asked softly, rubbing his knuckles.

“Y- Yeah, I’m fine. Jesus Christ, Jon-” Martin said, taking his fiance’s hand in his. “You could’ve broken something.”

Jon grinned, chuckling to himself. “Worth it.” he said softly. 

Martin leaned against him with a smile. He glanced over Jon’s shoulder to see Mark walking away, a trail of red running down his face.

  
“You got him good, it seems. Might’ve broken his nose.” Martin murmured.

“Good.” Jon mused, pressing a small kiss to Martin’s forehead. “I’m sorry about what he said.”

“Save it, love, it wasn’t your fault-”

“I could see it hurt you, Martin. I just want t-”

“Still not your fault.”  
  
Jon laughed. “Will you let me finish?” He took a deep breath. “Nothing of what he said was true, alright? None of it.” he said sincerely.

Martin sighed. “Love, you know how I get-”

“Yes, I do, Martin, but he was lying.” He pulled the other close. “You-” He pressed a kiss to his left cheek. “-Are-” A kiss to his forehead. “-Perfect.” A kiss to his right cheek.

Martin chuckled, flushing. “It’s not fair how you can still make me blush like that after all those years.” he murmured under his breath.

“What can I say, it’s a gift.” Jon mused, nudging up Martin’s glasses.

“Dad!”

The couple turned to see Syd coming towards them, tossing her soccer ball from hand to hand. She gave both a soft smile.

“Did you seriously punch that guy?” she said with a grin, looking at Jon.

Jon flushed, almost embarrassed and hid his hand behind his back. 

“Maybe.”

“It looked really cool, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t know you were so strong.”

“I didn’t punch anyo-”

“He did it to defend my honour.” Martin interrupted. “So unless you have a really good reason, don’t punch people, Syd. And he really isn’t that strong, so when we get home we are bandaging that hand of yours, Sims.”

“I did ‘defend your honour’, didn’t I, love? Don’t I deserve a break?”

“Yes, you do, Jon, but you need to get that hand bandaged cause it’s probably contused.”

“Oooh, Martin’s using fancy words.”

“ _Shut_ up, Jon.”

Jon chuckled as Martin carefully inspected his hand. “Yeah. That’s definitely bruising.” he muttered. 

“Come on, let’s get you home.” 

He looked back at Sydnee. 

“Both of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cws: transphobia (misgendering), guilting, violence, mentions of abandonment and abusive parenting (martin's mother), let me know if i missed any please
> 
> thank you sm for reading!!  
> kudos and comments are greatly appreciated
> 
> love yall and stay safe <33

**Author's Note:**

> cws: sleep deprivation, burn out, past dubcon (martin briefly touches on his bad ex-boyfriend who is syd's biological father), mentioned child abuse (martin's mom), mention of teen pregnancy  
> tell me if i missed any!
> 
> that was snippet number one!!  
> i hope you liked it :)) please leave a comment and/or kuddos (i need validation hh)
> 
> love y'all and stay safe <333


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